Aaron Gordon is finding his place in the NBA

Perception over reality?

Bothering shots and giving scorers a difficult time sometimes does not show up in box scores. Most advanced defensive metrics do not grade him very well because he does not block shots or force turnovers like other elite defenders, or even as much as he did last season. Additionally, playing with a poor defensive team skews these numbers downward.

For those reasons, his defensive box plus-minus and his defensive rating are career lows.

Because of disappointing performances so far from Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, the team’s primary rim protectors, Gordon’s impact is limited. The two big men were theoretically great fits for a modern NBA defense because of their quick feet, length and strength, but they have not lived up to expectations.

Until he plays alongside better defensive bigs, his and the Magic’s defensive numbers will continue to pay the price. But there is no denying what he has already accomplished individually.

That aside, he still has some kinks to work out in his individual game. For example, even though he could take Harden and DeRozan one-on-one, both players were able to use screens to throw him off and score easy buckets.

Here, Gordon goes under a screen Nene sets for Harden. When you are facing one of the best shooters in the game, that is a huge mistake.

He almost recovers in time to bother the shot, but that was not the only time Gordon had trouble with a screen.

In the clip below, he simply gives DeRozan way too much time to drive and get a shot off.

Plays like that are what allow many of Gordon’s matchups to score and get hot (see: DeRozan’s 31-point game in December).

His size makes it harder to get over screens. Better rim protection behind him or bigs who could defend better on switches would be a huge help here. But he still has room to grow.